Plant collections, and the wide variety of gardens they populate, form the elemental and integral foundation of our public gardens and arboreta. The Plant Collections Section serves to foster the sharing of horticultural information between public garden professionals, to promote horticulture through a variety of APGA venues, and to sponsor opportunities for professional development.

For a number of years, a listserv that grew out of the Plant Collections committee has provided a forum where thousands of invaluable exchanges between curators and horticulturists all over the world have taken place. Using the advantages associated with APGA's improved web technologies, the Plant Collections Section will create improved opportunities where such information can be exchanged and distributed, while making important examples of documents such as plant collections policies available in electronic formats.

The Plant Collections section will also sponsor professional development opportunities for public garden professionals looking to develop or enhance their curatorial skills. These programs will reflect the challenges public gardens and arboreta face in the ever changing global plant collecting environment.

Finally, the Plant Collections Section will remain an important advocate for plants and horticultural practices within the organization and for its membership, for its conferences, and for its publications, assuring that this most central function of the public garden remains as alive as ever.